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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe Book 1) by Neal Shusterman Review

For me, reading Scythe was like buying a Hersey bar and getting upset that it tastes like chocolate. I should have known better, but I am trying very hard to not exclude books with interesting premises out of hand because of the intended age range. However, this has turned me off of any interest in reading books featuring teens. It'll be a while before I pick up another that is written for this age group; finishing this was just that painful. This is very much meant for younger readers who enjoy stories full of teenage angst, teenagers who stand apart because they are different (more special) than their peers, and adults who just don't understand how hard it is to be in their positions. I really hate it when the majority of adults in a story are selfish/self-centered, disconnected from apparent important events, cowardly, evil, or just basically portrayed as stupid. I very much wanted to enjoy Scythe, but in addition to all of the tropes that are eagerly fed into that I do not usually enjoy, the story isn't paced well which made it a chore for me to continue reading. There is also the problem of how rigid Shusterman made the characters. There doesn't seem to be much room for moral grey areas. Morality isn't always black or white/right or wrong and Citra and Rowan are so busy being righteous that they didn't want to see anything outside of what their vast 16 years of life experience has shown them. I am simply not the target audience for this one and I made a bit of a mistake veering into this very YA lane.

Two teens are forced to murder—maybe each other—in the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Scythe is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.

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